By this time everyone who had anything to say must have already said it. In this quick-fire world, people tweet their entire blog posts / thoughts as 140 characters. I didn’t participate much in such discussions, but I still have a few things to say. I think I should’ve been quicker, but hey! Better now than never! This is not someone’s wedding that I shall speak up in the stipulated time or hold my peace!

Yes, I am talking about the ToI Vs Hindu fight which is all over the place now!

First, a bit of history.

The Hindu has been having its own struggles for quite a while. Having handled the some brands from that stable (albeit briefly), I believe that they had way too many issues to fight against and TOI was not even in the radar then. Back then, people used to read Hindu publications to improve their English. Many a south Indian has been able to manage cracking CAT and other related exams by reading Hindu editorials apart from their other reading material. Hindu held the pride of place there. Over time, with the advent of technology, the human laziness crept in somewhere. Hindu was at one point filled with spelling errors, grammatical blunders and what not! But the paper still had some integrity left in it. Although at some point it became a bit of anti-establishment, some point it became a Congress stooge. At least, that was the impression that I was left with. With the brand pretty close to my heart, I did feel a bit odd when my own intellect questioned a lot of stuff from The Hindu press.

Things got worse with the family linen being washed in public. Between N Ram, Malini Parthasarathy & the entire editorial board there was a huge family problem which was very publicly fought. The worst part was the open letters by the members of the board which got published in all rival newspapers. Open letters got a new meaning altogether!

Editorial instability, lack of direction, family feud dogged The Hindu. No amount of fresh ‘layout’ changes could help. After all, the content started taking a beating. The Hindu is a serious newspaper and is supposed to remain so. That was its strength. And that was a strength which was losing its power with all the hullaballoo around the senior management & family.

But The Hindu is a tradition. Coffee & this newspaper is a must combination for all locations where the paper was available and given a choice, I would go back to it even today. Sadly, The Hindu doesn’t publish in Mumbai. And even if it did, would it have the same charm? I don’t have the answer.

Enter TOI.

TOI is not a serious newspaper. At least in my mind! It is a frivolous, bordering on yellow journalism kind of a publication. Front page news yesterday was ‘Bus Driver mowing down people’ replete with pictures. The paper thrives on scams, death & bollywood.

While it is true that Scams are important to be highlighted, deaths to be announced & Bollywood to be covered, the publication lacks the editorial strength. The Op-ed pieces there are good, but somewhere the line of seriousness is always crossed. Breaking News is key!

Can it be blamed? Chicken & egg story. They will claim that they provide what is read by the man on the road. If Bollywood claims it, we can pardon it. But a newspaper cannot do that. My opinion of course!

And when TOI entered the Madras market, they tried to change the culture. Page 3 happened. I never knew till TOI & DC entered the Madras market that such low neckline, short skirt, LBD toting PYTs roam around the streets of Chennai till these papers started publishing pictures of them in big sizes!

I read somewhere that you can win over a country not by wars, but by infiltrating (read polluting) their culture. TOI & DC did exactly that in my opinion. Hindu’s page 3 was about the city. I think it still is. The page 3 used to cover information about the city, changes happening, things of value and things that matter. Boring shit it was. TOI and DC made it glamorous. Partly visible bosoms, neatly waxed legs, funky jewelery! Whoa! Tamilians buy gold jewelery. Seriously! Oxidised Silver was made fashion by these papers! There obviously was a clash of sensibilities.

Hindu still sells largest in TN. South Indians are boring people. They believe in smaller scams which are not of national interest. Worried more about Mullaiperiyar than Chikni Chameli and Hrithik Roshan’s shaved chest (Do South Indian men shave their bodies?). And more worried about their exams (or their ward’s exams) than the name of Beti B.

TOI called it boring. TOI called it yawn worthy. TOI called it sleepy! And how!

HINDU responded

Sleeping Lion woke up. After nearly 2 months. War footing for Hindu is 2 months of time! They didn’t do it quickly. They made TOI spend all their money and then came up with this campaign.

Now folks here are my two cents.

a.       TOI & DC cater to a different market. Not the serious ‘news’ reader. They believe in volumes and started a price war by selling a year’s subscription for 99 bucks. Everyone bought it because one month’s newspaper at the raddhiwala will fetch Rs.8/9 per kilo. Good investment. Their news was also of that kind. With a pinch of salt, the average householder let the paper enter his household. Period.

b.      Hindu didn’t reduce the rates. Held on and still holding on. Of course, they need to really whip up their editorial team and screw the s&*% out of them to get a good newspaper going. But they cater to serious newsreaders. Hindu WAS the opinion maker in the south. They need to get that position back if they need to be in serious business.

c.       The campaign from both is frivolous. TOI poked fun at a serious newspaper calling it boring. Hindu responded with a ‘screw you’ kind of campaign by calling TOI what they are… frivolous. Tit for tat! As an aside TOI’s launch campaign was also frivolous. Day in life of Chennai was replete with films, fist fights, water fights and a folk song based on a film song. JWT (and Senthil) won awards and accolades, but little did they realize that they were setting the tone albeit unconsciously for the future. And this was just one of those occasions when the big brother of Chennai publishing industry tapped on the head and said ‘shut up’.

d.      You can’t change TOI. The Hindu should not change from its ‘old’. The last few years are but a blip in a tradition which The Hindu should remember and hold on to. Else the brand will face a slow but eventual death.

e.      Fond hope that the new CEO Arun Anant would bring in some change. He has a huge challenge in hand. Feuding family, bad ‘recent’ history, outgoing strongman, new editorial board being called ‘inexperienced’ very publicly by family members. Feces has already hit the roof. Clean-up is not going to be easy. I sincerely hope he is given a free hand to take things to a logical direction.

Just a couple of points about the TOI Vs Hindu campaigns

1.       TOI took a bold step. To call seriousness a.k.a boring the way they did. Very cheeky. Appreciable campaign and ran it for quite a while in the TN markets. Good media usage and viral potential which was also exploited well.

2.       However, biased as it may sound, I liked the Hindu campaign very well. To hit where it hurts most. The readers. The Hindu campaign did show some steel by calling the bluff on the reader rather than on the newspaper. To call them ‘dumb’ requires a lot of guts. To say ‘Read the other newspapers and you will also become dumb’ is not an easy task.

I remember seeing home videos of American idiots who didn’t know the difference between Iran or Pakistan, Sikhs or Muslims, couldn’t point Washington in their own map, but wanted to bomb Iran because they have WMD. Because Bush said so!

The Hindu campaign is a great take-off from there and I guess puts the message across not so softly or subtly!

After all, all is fair in love and war. There obviously is no love here

Incoming search terms:

• tit branding
• advertising and brand recall
• brand wars the hindu vs times of india
• brand wars toi and hindu
• filled with spelling errors The HIndu
• brand recall in ads
• marketing branding recall
• meaning of calling the bluff
• Mr Ravi Banka Eggfirst Advertising and Design Pvt Ltd
• the hindu vs toi people response

Related posts:

1. Slow death of a giant For many TamBrahms like me there was a point in...
2. A hard look at my media habits Many a times when we marketers are in the process...
3. Unlikely Heroes Disclaimer: I have oft repeated that I don’t write about...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Related posts:

1. Marketing Strategy – Session III Christmas day was not a holiday. The third session of...
2. Lecture Session on Marketing Strategy I have just about started taking classes for a batch...
3. Marketing Strategy – Session II I had my session on Marketing Strategy for ITM Executive...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Incoming search terms:

• brand recall ppt
• stp strategy ppt
• stp strategy of hul
• stp of hul ppt
• pricing strategy ppt of hul
• ppt on pricing strategies of hul
• marketing warfare trout slideshare
• marketing warfare strategies ppt
• marketing strategy ppt (hul)2011
• marketing strategy of itm

Related posts:

1. Marketing Strategy – Session II I had my session on Marketing Strategy for ITM Executive...
2. Lecture Session on Marketing Strategy I have just about started taking classes for a batch...
3. Marketing Strategy – Sessions IV & V Here are the slides for my classroom lecture sessions at...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I have also worked on some brands from ‘The Hindu’ family briefly during my stint at Ammirati Puris Lintas. The brand and the group have been very close to my heart.

Unfortunately, the group is facing a very slow cancerous death. I can see it! The editorial in the mainline daily is not as it used to be. And the change has unfortunately been to the worst. While many used to refer to the Hindu as a boring newspaper, there were also anecdotes doing the rounds back then about how the publication was a stickler for correctness of information before it gets printed. People used to joke that if you are pronounced dead on ‘The Hindu’ then you are actually dead. Else there is at least a fighting chance.

There are two other papers (worth this blog mention) apart from The Indian Express, in what used to be citadel of The Hindu. ToI & Deccan Chronicle. They have cornered a fair bit of space by doing one or more of the following:

• Yearly subscription for Rs.99/- (Beat that! We would buy that paper purely for waste paper purposes) That makes your entry absolutely easy and you are the second paper at least for Raddhiwala / Pazhaya paper purposes. (Pardon my inclusion of vernacular terms, but it gives the authenticity to the point that I was trying to make).
• Making Madras sound like Bombay by introducing a Page 3 culture. Generation X, Y, Z, ZA and whatever thrives on gossip. They are more likely to pick the ‘second paper’ for the juice in the morning than the ‘Oh! So boring national news where some minister has surreptitiously consumed 800 Crores of taxpayer’s money’. I am not saying that they are irresponsible. Without them Anna Hazare would still be a village headman rather than a national icon. However, this generation is not the kind which would prioritize something like national interest over Trisha or Sneha (or are they passé? I think it should be Tamannah / Tapsi?). Maybe I am wrong, but that’s the feeling I am left with.
• Editorial content based on ‘flavour of the day’. Scoop. It doesn’t matter if the printed word is true, partially true, pinch of truth or a complete figment of some journalist’s imagination. There is a requirement for trial by media in our corrupt society, but some of them take it way too far.

And The Hindu has not been any less in helping their competition. The group today is suffering from many types of malignant cancer.

• Their family feud has been one of the worst cases of dirty linen being washed in public. There are people from the family with a clear divide who have spoken to other media houses about their family fights and it has in one way become a national exhibition.
• Blind in terms of polarity. The publication has not been a neutral entity for quite a while. There was a time when the publication was known for its anti establishment stand. Today they are almost seen like a Congress DMK combine newspaper. Much of the 2G scam was soft pedaled in The Hindu, which I believe was a disaster in waiting.
• Not moving with the Times (certainly not a pun). Their editorial IS (let’s face it) boring. Their writing style doesn’t make good reading for today’s audiences. The publication gives a feeling of talking from a pedestal still which leaves much to desire. No wonder TOI is taking a huge dig at The Hindu. Watch the TVC here. A boringly long 65 seconder echoing the boring newspaper.

• And what did The Hindu come up to promote itself? This?

Too bad, they thought that South was their bastion forever. They bloody well have to do better than this! They never had felt the need to advertise for a long time. But today, when they have to, they didn’t know what the brand stands for. Solution: Throw a few adjectives, show a few Tams (and TamBrahms) doing their daily morning chores and voila! We have the Hindu Ad. Shame!

For old times’ sake, I hope these guys come up with something to end their feud and focus on the brand which Mr. Kasturi Iyengar started around the same time as Coke. Not the same genre but similar legacy!

Incoming search terms:

• Tambrahm blogs
• tambrahm jokes
• tambrahms
• lintas-the hindu- marketing

Related posts:

1. Tit for Tat Warning: Long post. Very close to my heart and hence…...
2. A hard look at my media habits Many a times when we marketers are in the process...
3. Beware – Your competitor is from your category. NOT! A few years back, while at B-School, I was introduced...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Incoming search terms:

• afaqs
• celebrity brand endorsements afaqs
• personal branding tweet kiruba shankar

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

For instance, one of the biggest competitors of Indian Railways was ‘low cost airlines’. People who can afford to travel second or third A/C would rather spend a thousand Rupees more and fly to their destination. For the simple reason that they would end up saving a lot of travel time; this can be used for business or recreation as the case may be. Simple concept!

I have also heard of another concept propounded by Coke – especially in developing markets like India & China. They called it ‘Share of throat’. They realized pretty early that their biggest competition was not Pepsi in these markets but other natural, home-grown remedies to thirst – like tender coconut, buttermilk etc. Their biggest job was to convert these consumers to coke. I believe that was one of the key reasons for a Rs.5/- SKU, which was not common in most developed markets.

Coming back to the inspiration for this article – radio spots that I heard over the last few days & recent TVCs that I’ve seen.

Diwali Season has begun and every brand is roaring its heart out to reach for the customer’s pocket. And these are times when one brand understands who their real competitor is.

A few examples:

Cadbury’s Celebrations. Click here to listen to the spot.

Simple concept. Khushiyaan Baato. Share the happiness. Don’t think about meeting your old friend / boss / neighbor or whoever. Just go and meet them. Make them happy and you shall find happiness.

Pretty much straight forward. I will mind my own business kind of a spot, which is in line with its campaign in other media including TV.

Here’s the next one: World Gold Council. Click here to listen to the spot.

You can figure out who their competitor is! The electronic goods industry! Whoa! WGC actually thinks that Samsung, LG, Onida, Apple and other electronic goods manufacturers as competition. They’ve taken them head on to let us know how quickly these goods depreciate in value and how Gold can appreciate! Good idea. I will corner that corner of the pocket which was meant for the LED TV that the consumer felt the need for at his home!

And here’s the next. Morphy Richards.

I would have ideally liked to feature Croma’s Radio spot which believes a Gym Membership is competition, but couldn’t find it. But here’s the Morphy Richards TVC:

It looks like marketers have woken up to the concept of ‘Share of Wallet’ and are trying to poach from every other corner to get a bit of action for themselves! Competition is not within your category anymore. It has spread far and wide. What else can explain Gold fighting with Appliances fighting with Chinaware & Gym Memberships?

Marketers of today are fighting varied challenges.

• Competition is not just from within the category.
• Inflation & broader economy is making the size of the wallet smaller.
• Pricing has become a decision point with the consumer being spoilt with choice. More effort required by Marketing & Sales to get the same amount of revenues.
• Brand loyalty is almost a thing of past. Samsung is the new Sony. Korea is the new Japan.

Two eyes are just not enough. Look around. See the patterns and if you can’t see that almost invisible spear travelling at high speeds coming towards you, you may well be dead!

Incoming search terms:

• television share of wallet
• cadbury celebrations competitors
• product recall cadbury
• share of throat

Related posts:

1. The War of the Wallet on Afaqs! My article The War of the Wallet on Afaqs! Incoming...
2. Slow death of a giant For many TamBrahms like me there was a point in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Pretty recently a campaign broke out in National Media for Union Bank of India. It was pretty visible at least to me. I saw the ad on TV, hoardings on my way & back every day! A fairly large PSU Bank has again embarked on a mission to remind the customers about the brand after I think 3 years.

The campaign features Aruna Vishy, Ajit Tendulkar & Manoj Singh. Celebrities. NOT.

India and Indian family system is much interconnected. We are more social that the average social animal of the west. Family values are based on strong bondage and interdependence is very high within the members of the family.

Unlike the west, it is almost impossible to live alone and manage your life with the kind of facilities that are (or are not) available and one tends to depend on their immediate family a lot more than most other countries. Kids are under the aegis of their parents even till 24-25, while the average ‘walking out’ age in the west is 18 (or less)?

Beautiful insight. Transalated into communication by Union Bank of India.

The campaign features some unlikely heroes in their own way. Vishwanathan Anand’s wife, Sachin Tendulkar’s brother, and Vijender Singh’s brother, who are publicly known to be the pillars of support for the well known gods of their respective sporting discipline.

However, they were not in public eye till date.

Reems of paper and documentation have been made about Ajit Tendulkar. Sachin never forgets to mention his brother every time there is an accolade that is showered on him. But never has he been considered a celebrity. Till one views this campaign, chances are that they wouldn’t have seen Manoj Singh (Vijender’s brother). While Aruna has been in public eye before, I don’t remember her endorsing any brand.

Brilliant idea. It seems to fit with the brand’s communication well too. As a bank they claim to share your dream. Moot point being that one’s dream is never one’s alone! At least in the Indian context. This I believe is a fantastic premise for a brand to take. Especially one in the financial services space and that too – a large PSU Bank. Brings in the consumer closer to the brand in more than one way.

Using celebrity spouses or family members seems to be picking up in India. I remember Viru’s mom, now Aruna, Ajit & Manoj and Indian Cricket’s first lady Sakshi Dhoni. Snooky but viable idea. Make celebrities out of celebrity family members and get them cheap (at least relatively). I also believe that Abhishek (Aishwarya’s husband) is endorsing a few brands right? (Ha! My sarcastic self has to peep up someplace!)

However, I believe that the execution has its own minor glitches. The TVC is way too breezy and doesn’t get to the point. In the pretext of making it very classy, the point about driving home the key message is almost lost because the TVC is not crisp. Clearly the story could’ve been told in a 30 or 20 seconder rather than a 40. It almost sounds like the creative vs client argument. Client wants the story told shorter and the creative wants that extra 10 seconds. Things haven’t changed much in the last 5 years at least on this front

In all, I believe it is a great insight in the Indian context, but a not so great execution.

Must admit however that the advertising from PSU entities lately have been creative & catchy. That however has to be a separate discussion by itself!

Incoming search terms:

• ajit tendulkar union bank
• union bank of india campaign
• ajit tendulkar union bank of india
• aruna vishy
• union bank hoarding viswanathan anand
• union bank of india facebook aruna anand

Related posts:

1. Tit for Tat Warning: Long post. Very close to my heart and hence…...
2. Beware – Your competitor is from your category. NOT! A few years back, while at B-School, I was introduced...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Do I write an Ode?

Do I continue crying?

Millions and millions of blogposts, commentaries & columns would’ve been written about you, who decided to leave the world a better place than when you transformed into a life form from a mere ordinary ‘fastest sperm’.

Just a couple of days ago, I mentioned that I am an Apple fanboy and rued whether you are bigger than the organisation you had created. I am from the school of thought that everyone in an organisation in dispensible. Thanks for changing that thought. You are not. And you are proof enough that I was wrong and inspiring enough to show that everyone who has the will to achieve, CAN.

I may have never used an iPhone or an iPad, but have always aspired to have one. You inspired me to do things which are the size of mountain (rooting a nook color for instance) just so that I can say it is ‘like an iPad’. Your creations have always been of aspiration value for me and the brand you have created is amongst the best in my mind. As a brand professional, I adore Apple and the marketing finesse that you have brought into peddling what seems innocuously simple but extremely complex creation of tech wizards.

I continue to take inspiration from the way the products you’ve designed, the marketing ideas that you’ve powered and the creative genius that you’ve exhibited.

Never before has a ‘business executive’ achieved a cult status as you have. A totally consumeristic economy like the USA has never been brought to knees with queues lining up on the day of launch the of any product. Never before has USA believed in cults. You made it happen. I respect you for your finesse.

Never before (in my life) have I seen a more inspiring speech than your Stanford address. Never before have I seen anyone so honestly presenting such beautiful thoughts so succinctly and authentically. It was a bit of a let down that you read out from a paper. But proof enough that you have bothered to put to paper thoughts that were really profound, applicable and honest. I adore you for your honesty and simplicity.

Never before have I seen such beautiful simple presentations of a new product like your introduction of the Pods & Pads. I still remember the ’small pocket in jeans’ that you used for introducing the Nano. Your presentation skills are a lesson to be taught to everyone before stepping into the real world.

Never before have I felt like Ekalavya – to be learning from continuously (both from you and from the brand you’ve created) but never worked with you. If I am allowed to borrow Bill Gates’ words, I would be ‘insanely fortunate’ to work with you side-by-side. Alas! I wasn’t. But hey! That is something half the world would be dying for and would give both their arms for. I am one of them. Simply put… A fanboy!

You will be sorely missed. I must be honest in saying that I have not stalked you like many else would have. But on the same vein, I must also tell you that I have always looked up to you for inspiration, learning and your most oft spoken skill… determination.

And never before have I mourned for someone I have never met, like I did for your passing. I couldn’t control my tears. I cried alone.

I hope, I will join the dots too. And when I do, I will shed one more tear.

In your honour.

Thank you for walking this earth! Let the heavens shine with your prowess!

Incoming search terms:

• i respect and adore you
• i adored steve jobs
• why adore steve jobs

Related posts:

1. Who is big? Apple or Steve Jobs? Disclaimers: I AM AN APPLE FANBOY I adore Steve Jobs...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I had visited the Byculla zoo this Sunday last for the sake of my nephew & #SidNanda (my son Siddharth as tagged on Twitter). I was thoroughly disappointed and my obvious human mind compared it with the Singapore Zoo and my fond memories of that place. I remember names of the animals that I have interacted with and their trainers too! The place is a destination and I would certainly visit there as often as I can!

Getting back to Byculla, I read in the papers that there is a plan to revamp the zoo at a cost of Rs.150 crores. Here’s the link.

I am sure this money can be put to good use. And once done, by allocating some budget for marketing the place, it can be a grand success. Here’s my list of suggestions (albeit unwarranted).

• Today the zoo is just a large garden with enclosures where we can’t find the animals half the time and is ill-maintained. The place first needs a clean-up, laid pathways (flooring was very uncomfortable for pushing a pram), lacks sanitation & drinking water facilities, lacks dust bins etc. By keeping the place clean, half the problem can be solved. No need to cut / uproot / move any of the vegetation! Basics handled would be half the problem solved.
• The place needs a route plan: Think Super Markets! The retail industry is a science by itself! Big Bazaar, Shoppers Stop & Hypercity have mastered it. The way the shop floor designer guides you through your essentials, fringes, not-required but good to have, absolutely not required but I will buy it, and finally those smalls nuggets at the billing counter including the gums, chocolates etc which parents cannot refuse their children while waiting to pay up. Whoa! It is an awesome ride into a human mind. The zoo can take some examples from here. Segregate the animals, birds, insect worlds separately and have a floor plan and guide the visitor to go every place.
• Sign boards & indicators: The zoo requires boards. People must know what they are seeing inside the enclosure. And for heaven’s sake, it is not ‘just’ lion. It can be an African or Indian Lion and they have zoological names. A plain simple Lion won’t do. What are you going to teach the children that visit? I am sure teachers of today would cringe to take their wards to this zoo because of some uncomfortable questions on the species. PLUS, they make awesome advertising opportunity. Most companies have CSR initiatives today and this is one fantastic way to tap it.
• Shows: Seeing a monkey jumping inside a cage is fun. But when you are interacting with it, it is another! I still remember the first Orangutan that kissed me. His name is Surya and he was 4 months old when I first held him in my hands. When I went to the Singapore Zoo the second time, I made it a point to meet Surya again. Only this time he was 7 years old and was a grown up. More stronger and more agile and more beautiful than ever before. I cherish my having met him. Now isn’t that an experience? By letting kids interact with these animals, the zoo would help them in understanding the importance of conserving nature and by pricing it right, you end up making some money too! Trust me, children will make their parents pay for it!
• Shops inside: Why haven’t we learnt to sell wares & merchandise? It is pretty much the same across all national parks & animal houses across the country. I remember the shop from Sanjay Gandhi National Park. It is a shame. Not enough merchandise, not priced right, not visually appealing. It is a shop for the sake of having a shop. Here’s my idea. Outsource it to a private apparel brand. It could be Nike, Adidas, Reliance Trends, Wills Lifestyle, Trent… whoever! Outsource it. Don’t charge them rent for the first 3 years, but charge them from the 4^th year onwards. They must sell only Zoo based merchandise in the store. But they must come up with ideas & merchandise that would make people want to yank their wallets out. The business plan for the brand should be to make it profitable in three years time and then share the profit with the zoo authorities. It is okay if you don’t make money in the first three years. You are not making money from it anyway!
• Food & relaxation joints: There are a few dirty ‘some trust’ sponsored cemented benches which are perennially covered with algae. People will leave the zoo earlier if they are tired of walking. Provide place to sit. Create space for food joints. Same rule as above. Maybe with a one year moratorium. Vadapav, Dabeli stalls with ice-creams while enjoying the pleasant coolness of flora & fauna well within the city of Bombay! Think of the potential. That would make people stay longer, visit again and thus more business.
• Transport facilities to the zoo: Two buses painted in zoo colors can go around town picking up people for visits. They can also be given on hire for school children planning to visit the zoo. Make it a package for the schools to visit the zoo on a regular basis. An entire school cannot visit the zoo on the same day. But each school has at least 1000 children. In batches of 100, you have 10 visits from each school by having an annual tie-up. With a tie-up with even 50 schools, your ticket sales at the zoo would bring in a small fortune. Won’t it?
• Transport facilities within the zoo. Battery trains, golf carts etc. Just to ensure that even if the place isn’t large, it gives the feeling of largeness. One can walk through the zoo in no time, but by planning the pathway to be long and winding, you can make it interesting enough to make people pay a small fee for these rides!
• Entry fee: At Rs.5/- the zoo is not keeping the unnecessary crowd out. And is not earning from it either. By having the fee to a slightly higher level, it would keep the wastrels out and also ensure that there’s more revenue coming in. I wouldn’t mind paying Rs.50 to go to the zoo if the facilities are good. So improve the facilities and charge higher. Having shops inside would also help add to the revenue!
• Corporate tie-ups. Each section Primates, birds, cats, other mammals, reptiles etc can be sponsorship opportunities. Let’s say Reliance Trends wants to have the apparel store inside, then they can be asked to ‘adopt’ the Reptile farm for a specified period. By having such tie-ups the revenue for the zoo will go up, the entry fee can be kept low and higher foot falls generated.
• Bring in local heroes (not the Salman Khan types) who have done a lot of work towards environment protection as part of the core team. Snake catchers like Ibrahim, Vijay Raghavan, Anand Mohite etc have done great work in the concrete jungle called Bombay. I am sure involving them in doing shows at the zoo would be great. They would get their due for the work they do, and the zoo would be able to get more footfalls.
• Social Media: Less said about this the better. Creating a FB page or twitter handle (there I said it!) would be a bit more helpful. I still remember the Bronx Zoo Python that escaped and the twitter handle which freaked out on it. If an imaginary twitter python can shake the room, then think what social media can do for a live animal!?!?!
• Bring in the Animal World Celebrities. If Steve Irwin was alive and is visiting Byculla Zoo to play in the crocodile pool, I am sure there is a huge bunch of people who would pay to visit on that day! We have Romulus Whitaker and Alphonse Roy who still do similar or greater work! Why can’t we have a celebrity day at the zoo?
• BMC runs the zoo. Why can’t they have a zoo day?! Or something equivalent! By having a special promo drive for the zoo, the authorities would be able to make the place a much loved destination.

I would be very happy to wear a ‘I <3 Byculla Zoo’ Tee which glows in the dark and has the face of a beautiful tiger. Won’t you?

Note: The article in today’s paper does not attribute any amount of the Rs.150 crore towards any kind of marketing activity. BMC would do itself a world of good by allocating even a small amount towards promoting the zoo and thus increasing its own usefulness and provide an awesome destination in Bombay! Think again!

Incoming search terms:

• byculla zoo website
• byculla zoo
• visit to byculla zoo
• byculla zoo entry fees
• list of animals in byculla zoo
• byculla zoo website images
• website for byculla zoo
• Visiting Byculla zoo
• what is the ticket charge at the zoo at byculla
• stay at byculla zoo

Related posts:

1. A hard look at my media habits Many a times when we marketers are in the process...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It is true that many times the best sample size for a market research activity is ‘1’, but can we really do that when we choose media? Here’s a small example: Data says (at least if we still can trust RAM) that Radio One is the leading FM Channel in Bombay (yes, I refuse to call this city Mumbai. If you don’t like it, watch Russel Peters for the reason). However, the CEO prefers Malishka of Red FM over “Who’s that unknown RJ in 91.1 FM, which claims to be no.1? It is very Indianly common to have hoardings from the Airport to Office (even if it is just for a few days) for the ‘senior management’ to see & feel happy about during branch visits. It surely keeps the bosses happy!

That apart, it always is a good idea to take a hard look at one’s own media habits. It may just help plan better the next time you write the brief for the campaign plan.

That’s what I am planning to do now. How do I consume media? What do I watch? What do I do? Maybe some planner may get some idea from what I do (unconsciously). My routine can (hopefully) be the trigger for dropping that self-proclaimed omnipresent media vehicle! Here goes:

My demographics:

Age: 37

City: Mumbai

Occupation: Marketing head for a Financial Services Firm

SEC: I don’t believe in this classification. But am earning well.

MHI: ahem! See earlier point!

So what do I do everyday?

• 6.00 am to 7.30 am: The first media that I consume is Vijay TV. Judge me if you must, but Vijay TV in the mornings broadcasts spiritual stuff and it helps keep my mind clear of all the nonsense like corruption, accidents, murders, scandals and other such ‘outrage inducing’ news. So Vijay TV it is!
• 7.30 am: Yes. I do read ToI. But I just browse. I don’t find their editorial engaging enough. Not for me at least. Also, owing to business considerations, their news is filled with negativity. Read point 1 for what I would like to avoid and TOI is filled with it anyway. Lately, even the sports coverage has scandals as the pivot. But yes, I browse through that paper for just being abreast.
• 7.30 am: My modified Nook Color which is now an Android Tablet. I access NDTV app, Economist, Huffington post, NYT for a bit of world coverage. I prefer to read the politics and broader economy items rather than most other categories. Sports comes in too.
• Economic Times: Being in Financial Services, it is imperative for me to read this paper. Thought the colour is mildly yellow, this pink paper is a must read for me to ‘be in the know’. Also, this is the largest circulated / read (both are different) newspaper and I handle retail. QED.
• The Mint: For me, this is intelligent reading. This newspaper is actually where there is limited or no jargon and complex financial events can be understood, albeit with a little effort. Must read
• Google News: A site that is ‘almost permanently’ open on my computer to get my dose of news. I read through articles of varied topics through Google News and it’s constantly updating feeds
• LinkedIn: Provides me with business updates through links posted, people with whom I am connected and business related news.
• Twitter through the day: In intermittent spells, I tweet and read tweets. I follow some news junkies, stand up comedians, advertising, PR & digital media folks, and some politicians too. Most times, twitter is my first source of breaking news. In that same vein, Facebook is almost relegated to a weekly once kind of activity or ‘only when there’s time’.
• I also frequently visit Quora, Mashable & Rediff (not necessarily in that order) for reading about anything under the sun.
• Infrequently, I also read blog posts when someone tweets their links. Not much time.
• My evenings are typically spent with Raymond / AFV, followed by MasterChef Australia. Food is the new porn (as my wife called it) and Masterchef is the epicenter of it all for me! Despite knowing the result, one is always drawn to the edge of the seat with this programme. I try my best not to miss it. Also, I toggle sometimes with Super Singer on Vijay TV. Those singers are by no stretch of imagination ‘amateurs’. Continuing with porn takes the logical next step to Nigella Lawson. I may never eat a morsel of what gets cooked in Masterchef or Nigella’s show, but I seem to be relishing it with glee!
• Back to Nook Color, news & other apps before I crash.
• I drive to work & back. Outdoor is dangerous for me to keep track of! But hey! This is Bombay and traffic is always ‘almost still’. So I do watch out for the billboards too! I am generally a safe but distracted driver! J

I have conveniently and consciously left my personal life out of this!

So, does that make a generalization? Not at all. It is how I seem to be sharing my time with the various media vehicles that I consume / come across.

If this helps anyone while making a media plan, ping me.

Related posts:

1. Slow death of a giant For many TamBrahms like me there was a point in...
2. Tit for Tat Warning: Long post. Very close to my heart and hence…...
3. A trip to the Byculla Zoo If you are wondering what a Zoo is doing in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.